The Red Pill of Pentecost

"You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."
Morpheus to Neo in "The Matrix"

Christian faith takes the red pill down the rabbit hole of the kingdom of God into reality.

Christian religion takes the blue pill of reality avoidance with a veneer of religiosity.

Pentecost is our annual celebration of God's offering this choice to each of us anew: “Red pill or blue pill?”

The red pill is the Holy Spirit.

The blue pill is the nominalism of moralistic conservative and cause-driven liberal “Christianities.”

The red pill is the bread and wine of communion that makes us the bread and wine broken and poured out for the life of the world.

The blue pill is the bread and wine of communion as unintelligible ritual exercised as an individual devotional exercise.

The red pill is a whole different life in Jesus through the Spirit.

The blue pill is the desire for Jesus to merely make a difference in your life.

The red pill is risky, restless, relentless immersion in the struggles of the world.

The blue pill entails only more-or-less participation in the life of the church.

The red pill leads to cross and resurrection.

The blue pill leads to a casket and “life after death” (not to be confused with “life-after-life-after-death” of Christian hope [N.T. Wright]).

So, what will it be for you and me this Pentecost? The red pill or the blue pill?



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